Today we’d like to introduce you to Nikki Gouge.
Hi Nikki, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I started in the restaurant world at 15, and my career truly began at Miss Kitty’s when I was 21. At the time I was dating the owner’s son, Aaron Gouge—we were high school sweethearts. After trying a few ventures away from Glasgow, I realized Glasgow was home and where I wanted to raise a family. I worked at Miss Kitty’s for five years, learning the business and thinking about how I’d like to grow it.
When Lonnie and Kitty Beckett—who opened the restaurant in 1994—decided to sell, I knew it was my chance. In 2007, with encouragement from my then-husband, I bought the business. We sold two houses we had been fixing up within a week—a clear sign—and purchased the building, doing a full remodel of the upstairs apartment. I restored the restaurant’s original name, Beckett’s, and worked with talented friends to rebrand. After moving into the apartment above the restaurant with our two-year-old son Mason, we launched the new Beckett’s, keeping the things I loved and adding my own touches while remodeling the restaurant.
The support from Glasgow and the surrounding communities has been incredible, and I’m forever grateful. Over the years we’ve made changes to improve efficiency and growth, and our family grew too—adding two more sons, Ben and Anthony. Mason and Ben both started working in the kitchen at 15 and are now rockstar grill cooks.
Consistency and fresh ingredients are values I insist on: we make many sauces and menu items in-house, hand-cut our fries, and patty our half-pound burgers daily. We buy locally whenever possible. Our local grocer Charlie’s Quik Chek cuts all of our meat, local baker The Rolling Pin bakes our cakes using my late mothers recipes, while a friend Carmen makes Aaron’ s famous Key Lime Pie, Smith Apiaries supplies all of our honey and Salisbury Meat Market supply our famous Smoked Pork Chop. Small communities must take care of one another. Early on, both of my cooks called in one night; I’d been a server and had never worked that side of things, but I stepped in. After some panic and a few tears, I committed to learning every job so I’d never feel that helpless again. That was 19 years ago. We’ve had incredible staff—many employees have stayed 10–15 years—because we run this as a family business and work to make everyone feel like family.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
We have hit many obstacles along the way as we have grown. When we remodeled we added more seating and a bigger kitchen but keeping the main grill out front. It took a few tries and getting good communication from the front grill to the back kitchen for plate timing. Staffing has been hard in a small town and the increase to minimum wage. We always have our people we couldn’t do it without but some of the positions are not so easy to fill. We upgraded from hand written tickets to a POS system and learning all the logistics of that were a challenge. We purchased a second location across the street which is Beckett’s Winery. We wanted to figure out a smooth way to get our fresh food there. We added a self ordering kiosk there where people could order to go food. I taught myself how to do all my own payroll and paperwork. I’ve learned a lot the hard way! Covid was a struggle but in that we added a delivery service in town that we have now had to keep! We are a river town and there have been a few flood years that it has been difficult for customers to get to us. We are located in an old building built in the 1800’s so there is always something to deal with there! Thankfully my husband is a contractor! The biggest challenge that I have faced is finding balance between family life and business life.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Being the owner of Beckett’s Restaurant and Beckett’s Winery in a town of 1100 has it’s challenges but can be very rewarding. I am known for being a people person and I love making people happy! I know that it takes hard work to keep our town successful and I am always up for the challenge. I serve as The Glasgow Main Street President, served 6 years on our school board as treasurer and have been active in scouting for the last 15 years having 3 sons. I think the community knows they can count on me and I am proud of that. I have met so many wonderful people though the years of employees and customers!
Do you have any advice for those just starting out?
Learn everything you can about your type of business. Be prepared for long hours but know it is all worth it when things start growing. Make sure you have a few good people in your corner for support. Get involved with your community. You got this.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.beckettsrestaurant.com/
- Instagram: @becketts_restaurant
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/beckettsglasgow
